


A little bit of Chaos never killed anyone

by Need_To_Comment_Rising



Series: Mafia AU [2]
Category: Cats (2019), Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Prohibition Era, Established Relationship, F/F, Henchcat Tugger, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Master Thieves Chaos twins, Mob Boss Macavity, Morally Ambiguous Character, Organized Crime, mix of stage and movie aesthetics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27099352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Need_To_Comment_Rising/pseuds/Need_To_Comment_Rising
Summary: Victoria didn’t want to get involved in the beating that was sure to follow. Who was this tom, who thought he could just waltz into the Hidden Paw’s office and start playing pranks? Was he suicidal??----------------------------Victoria discovers more than she bargained for about the Napoleon of Crime when she pickpockets the wrong Tom. But is that necessarily a bad thing?
Relationships: Macavity/Mungojerrie (Cats), pre-Victoria/Rumpleteazer
Series: Mafia AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134467
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	A little bit of Chaos never killed anyone

**Author's Note:**

> Work betaed by the amazing [hearth_goddess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearth_goddess/pseuds/hearth_goddess).
> 
> The time period in this is kind of blurry, but this is a fanfic about humanoid cats being mafia bosses, nobody is going to be mad at me for not researching the Prohibition Era all that much, right?
> 
> English is not my first language, so if you see something that isn't proper English or sounds weird, don't hesitate to tell me!!

The first time Victoria saw Macavity, better known by press and public as "The Napoleon of Crime", she had already been working at Blimp’s for over a year. It was mid-afternoon, and the employees of the speakeasy were bustling around, preparing for the night to come, when the doors opened and a black tom came in, flanked by two imposing guncats. Even though he was right before her, she couldn’t have been able to pick him out from a lineup: he was wearing a big brown trenchcoat and a hat cast his face in shadows. After introducing himself, he announced in a calm voice that, due to a series of unexpected events, Mister Jones wouldn’t be able to take care of his business any longer, and that he would be taking over from now on.

Now, Victoria may have the face of an angel, but she wasn’t innocent enough to misundertand the hidden meaning of that sentence. She didn’t need the next day’s headlines, clamoring about the «misterious disappeareance of well-loved philanthropist Bustopher Jones» to understand what had gone down. And honestly, if the new boss had been any other cat, she wouldn’t have worried about the issue at all. In her opinion, if you got involved with underground business, especially as a public figure, you knew what the risks were. If Mr. Jones hadn’t been up to it, he should have kept to more legal affairs. But in this case, she couldn’t help but wonder: Macavity had a bad reputation even between the hardened members of the mob, and there was not knowing how this new direction would change her life.

So, if she knew how this business worked, and if she was aware of the ruthlessness of her new boss, how was it that she had ended up getting dragged to said new boss’ office a mere month after the change of patronage? Well, let’s say that life in the big town on a waitress’ salary was hard, so she had a few tricks up her sleeve to make ends meet. In particular, whenever a drunk patron got a little too handsy for their own good, she took their wallet. From her point of view, if they were going to take liberties with her, the least they could do was pay her for her troubles, wasn’t it? Let’s consider it an involontary tip. So, when a tall tom wearing a shirt open all the way down to get a pretty impressive mane out had tried to sit her in his lap, she had taken her chance. How was she to know that the brat was not only perfectly sober, but on top of that, he was the Rum Tum Tugger, the Big Man’s little brother?

The aformentioned tom, his tail flicking back and forth angrily, opened the door of Macavity’s office and stormed inside, leaving her no chance but to follow. The room was small and dark, reeking of cigarette smoke, and sitting behind a desk was the cat they had came to see. Now that he didn’t have his hat on, Victoria could discern an old scar that crossed his face from his chin to the top of his mangled left ear. Most probably the remnants of a street fight from a time when he couldn’t send others do his dirty work, she mused. In short, this was definitely not someone you could get on the wrong side of and walk away unscathed, independently of whether he was coming to you as a Mafia boss or as a skilled fighter. She was _so_ screwed.

But before Rum Tum Tugger could open his big mouth and get her in trouble, a door on the other side of the room opened with a bang, and a calico cat strode in. Without even a "hello" or an "excuse me", he reached into his pocket and took out a pair of water balloons, that he proceeded to toss at his unexpecting victims with a cheery "catch this!".

Macavity, quick as an uncoiling snake, caught his balloon mid-air; his brother wasn’t as lucky, or probably not as skilled. He fumbled a bit, before grazing the offending object with an unseathed claw and making it explode to his face. He jumped several feet in the air, and hissed as his lustrous mane got completely drenched. Victoria hid a snicker behind her paw: as much as the entitled cat with his fur dripping water was a satisfying image, she didn’t want to get involved in the beating that was sure to follow. Who was this tom, who thought he could just waltz into the Hidden Paw’s office and start playing pranks? Was he suicidal??

The answer to her question came from the Big Boss himself. "Mungojerrie" he drawled, sticking a claw in the balloon with surgeon-like precision so that the water oozed out without it exploding. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Ooh, that explained some things. Victoria had heard of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the best white-collar thieves in town. Their robberies were legendary: they were rumored to be able to steal anything they put their minds to. There was even a story floating around about how they had once stolen the Governor’s wife's jewels while she was wearing them at a public appearance. But that had to be made-up, right? Nobody was _that_ good! In any case, it was clear that the calico believed that his status gave him enough leeway to pull a stunt like this on Macavity. She just hoped he was right : she wasn’t looking forward to witnessing a murder in cold blood, and Tugger looked angry enough to go along with it if his brother asked him to.

And indeed, the thief didn’t seem worried at all for his fate. He smiled broadly, as if pranking a mob boss was his definition of a good time, and shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, nothing important, really", he said. "I was coming back from a job at the Egyptian" Victoria startled : the Egyptian was at the capital, and it was the most expensive and most secure auction house in the country. How had he gotten in at all?? "when I saw this on a shop window. I thought you would like it, so I nicked it. And then I saw the balloons, and I thought : ‘why not make it into a prank?’".

With those words, he perched on Macavity’s desk _(uh oh),_ took the deflated rests of the balloon straight out of his paws _(he’s playing with fire!)_ and took out a cheap rubber duck, painted in a hideous mixture of blues and oranges _(is he porposely testing his luck?)_. And then, as if he hadn’t done enough already, he proceeded to rub his head against the Napoleon of Crime’s. Definitely suicidal, then. But as Victoria was inching backwards to get herself out of the blood splatter that was sure to arrive any second, she noticed something unexpected. Was Macavity… purring??

"You should close your mouth, doll, you’re going to catch a fly" said someone beside her, with a soft Irish lilt with only served to highlight the amusement in their voice. "Have you never seen two Mates greet each other after a separation?" _Oh._ Victoria, feeling embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of it sooner, turned to see who was this newcomer. She found herself face to face with a tall calico queen sporting two brown and black patches, one over each eye, that perfectly mirrored Mungojerrie’s. She must be Rumpleteazer, then. She wore a grey striped suit that reminded her of the famous actress, Caterine Hepburn, and Victoria felt a little underdressed, standing there in her white flapper dress. Not that the other queen was complaining, mind, at least judging by the appreciative way she was looking at her. After a beat, the calico titled her head without tearing her gaze away from her, and adressed the Napoleon of Crime where he was still being all lovey-dovey with her brother (and wasn’t _that_ a sentence Victoria had never thought possible). "Hey boss, who is this kit?"

Finally, that seemed to snap Macavity out of his little world, although Mungojerrie stayed perched on his lap. It honestly said a lot about the man that he could command any amount of danger aura (and danger aura he commanded) when he fixed a cold gaze on Tugger over the head of his cheery Mate. "That is a good question, Rumpleteazer. So, dear brother, would you please care to explain why you have barged in here with this waitress in tow? Surely you know by now that you don’t need my blessing with your conquests?"

To that, the henchcat raised to his full height, spluttering indignately. "That’s not… I wasn’t… I know I don’t need to ask permission for that! She stole my wallet! The only reason I even realized it on time was because I tried to pay for a drink right afterwards!"

Mungojerrie snorted. "Well, you were probably too distracted by whoever you were flirting with at the time. Pickpocketing you can’t be that hard, you’re not exactly known for your attention span…" Victoria bristled internally, her fur standing up in offense. Maybe she wasn’t good enough to steal the Egyptian, but she knew what she was doing! She could be subtle enough not to be noticed without having to resort to flashing her objectives! But before she could rattle a list of all the patrons she had robbed before and dig herself into a hole too deep to ever come out of, the other queen chimed in.

"Actually, I wouldn’t say that, Jerrie. He’s surprisingly alert for someone who looks that much like an airhead" ("hey!" cried Tugger, but nobody paid him any mind). "That’s not to say I haven’t taken more stuff from him than I can count" she added with a cocky grin over the henchcat’s angry protests, "but it’s not as easy as it sounds. The kit has some skill in her." She looked at her again, appraising her in a detached, professional way that had nothing to do with the seductive glance she had given her before. "Actually, I’d say she has the exact profile we need for Operation Golden Egg." She locked eyes with her brother, in one of those silent conversations only twins seem to be able to have. When he grinned broadly and nodded, she turned back to Victoria and asked. "So what do you say, doll? Do you want to learn the art from the best?"

And probably at some other point of her life, or even half an hour ago, she would have declined, or at least put on a healthy resistance (she wasn’t convinced that this was a question, even if it was worded as one; she didn’t expect Macavity to take "no" for an answer). But now? She thought of her crappy appartment with the shared kitchen and the malfunctioning heater; of getting back home at sunrise on aching feet; of handsy patrons and drunk fights. And then she looked around her, at the twins encouraging smiles, offering her a better life; and at her terrifying boss, who seemed a lot less scary with a rubber duck in front of him and a lapful of calico cat. There was only one possible answer.

"When do we start?" she grinned. The response couldn’t be more positive: Rumpleteazer smiled as if she had won the lottery, and Mungojerrie whooped and jumped to his feet. With a final nuzzle to his Mate, he wrapped an arm around Victoria’s shoulders and steered her towards the door he had came from. "Ok, so for now our plan is the following…"

* * *

From his seat by the desk, Macavity watched fondly as his lover chattered happily about his plans to the new recruit. Once he was far enough that he couldn’t understand what he was saying anymore, he turned back to his brother, who was still muttering to himself about "those damned chaos twins" while he tried to shake the water out of his mane.

"You didn’t bring the kit here to get punished, did you? You knew she fit the bill for Operation Golden Egg, and you couldn’t find a less obnoxious way to convince her to work for us. Couldn’t you at least have picked another moment to bring her around? How am I going to keep my reputation if you insist on introducing all new recruits to Mungo?"

At the sound of his voice, Tugger stopped fussing over his fur and straightened up. The change was subtle, but clear: in a moment, he went from 'bumbling idiot playboy' to 'confident cat who was good at what he did and he knew it'. With a cocky swing of his hips, he moved to sit on the chair across his brother and boss.

'Of course I had this planned all along, what do you think of me? Well, maybe not _exactly_ all along. I really wanted to get her for me at first, can you blame me, have you seen that face? But I guess that ship has sailed, if the way she looked at Teazer is any indication… Why does _she_ get all the cutest queens? It’s not fair…" he pouted, looking put out, ignoring Macavity’s shaking his head in dispair. He was used to Tugger’s complaints: this was a common conversation. When he got like that the only thing you could do was wait until he had gotten it out of his system.

"But you are right about the recruiting", he continued, getting back on topic a lot sooner than expected. "She’s good, Mac, very good. Ok, maybe not as good as the twins (who _is_? Those two could rob the Statue of Liberty and noone would notice), but I didn’t feel a thing, I still don’t know how she got to my wallet. I honestly think she’ll be a good asset. As for introducing her to you two… She wouldn’t have joined us if I had just asked her then and there, believe me. You should have seen how terrified she looked when she realized I was related to you at all! Your reputation is great to scare competitors and threaten authorities, but it makes kind of hard to enlist new blood, you know? Paranoid henchats are bad investments, they make silly mistakes. So we needed to make you more human, more approachable, before we popped the question." Here, he looked thoughtful for a moment and he smiled toothily, showing two rows of perfectly white, sharp teeth. "Also, I’ll admit that seeing the newbies’ reactions to seeing you lovebirds together for the first time never gets old. The way their jaws hit the floor each time is the highlight of my day." 

Macavity rolled his eyes at his little brother’s antics, but his heart wasn’t on it. "If you say so. I’ll trust your judgement, I suppose, you’re the people’s person of this operation. It doesn’t mean I have to like it, though. It has taken me a lot of time and effort to cultivate this image of cold, detached monster, just to have you throw it away to win over some waitress! Just keep an eye on her for the time being, to be certain she’s trustworthy, ok?"

"Don’t worry about that, boss, it will be my pleasure" Tugger answered, sending his way a cheeky salute and a lecherous grin. And with that, he clearly thought the subject of the white cat to be closed, because he sat straighter in his chair and put on what Macavity thought of as his 'professional face'. "So anyway, there are some serious stuff we need to discuss. I paid a visit to the District Attorney this afternoon, to kindly remind him where his loyalties lay, and he says he will have George out of jail by morning. We might want to do something about the Police Station on 54th Avenue, they are getting a little bit too cocky for their own good. Maybe a good ol’ bomb would cool down their spirits? Ah, and also Jenny will deliver the whiskey tomorrow at noon, so we should post someone at the meeting point to pick it up..."

And with that, they went back to their usual rutine, with no thoughts left for the queen whose life they’ve just changed forever. At least, not for now...

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!! As always, kudos make me all warm inside, and comments make my day, including constructive criticism. Tell me how you feel about this, whether is good or bad! :)
> 
> This is supposed to be a one-shot, but I would love to write more in the same universe. My issue is that I have trouble thinking of plots right now; so if you have any ideas of what the Golden Egg Operation consists of, and you would like to read about it, don't hesitate to write me a comment, and I may actually do it!
> 
> And now, some random comments about the fic:  
> \- With all due love to both performers - who are both incredible- I envision 'insecure playboy Tugger' as being Tyler Hanes, and 'real Tugger' as being John Partridge.  
> \- No, "Caterine Hepburn" isn't a typo. Katherine Hepburn is an actress I absolutely adore, and a style icon; so I couldn't resist the temptation of making this pun.  
> \- Just in case there is any kind of doubt: the other characters call Victoria "kit" because she's inexperienced, not because she's an actual kitten. Everyone here is aged up: you don't get to be a first-class thief at 15!  
> -I take no responsibility for Tugger. He wasn't even supposed to be in this one-shot, but he waltzed right in and decided to take a prominent role without asking!
> 
> If you want to talk about Cats or just see more information about the random headcanons I have for this and other AUs of mine, come say hi on tumblr, I'm [is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer](https://is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer.tumblr.com/).


End file.
